World War I veteran Alfred Mazengarb reads from a script his recollections of the delayed departure of troop ship No. 3, the Maunganui.
"That memorable event, the false start of the NZEF on 23 September 1914. Last farewells had been said, the last streamers from ship to shore had been broken, all troop ships had moved out into the stream with one exception, New Zealand troop ship No. 3, the Maunganui. It seemed that we were doomed to await only the embarkation of Major General Godley and his staff. The last of the crowd had dispersed, nothing to look at except the blank walls of the Wellington wharf sheds. The troops were becoming restive when relief arrived with the ships Commandant Brown, afterwards in command of the Canterbury Infantry and still later Brigadier General, killed at Messines. Captain Brown said to Sergeant Major Henry, "We'll not be sailing tonight Sgt. Major, you may give the men leave until midnight". Boredom forgotten, away we streamed for a night on the town. There was then, remember, no wireless. Such news as we had came by cable; copies of these were posted up on windows of the daily newspapers. This evening the main streets were crowded with people eager for any scrap of information.
With some of my mates, I reached the intersection of Lambton Quay and Willis Street, Stewart Dawson's Corner, and there I met a family friend, Mr. Statham, afterwards Sir Charles, the Speaker of the House. With him was a man, cap pulled down over his eyes and heavy woollen muffler hiding fifty percent of the rest of his face. I hastened to give Charlie Statham the latest news that we of Maunganui had leave until midnight and would be sailing in the morning. At that stage the muffled man said, "No you're not. You're going into camp in the morning". I scoffed, 10,000 men into camp at an hour's notice, not even a day's preparation. I was even brash enough to say, "We hear lots of tales like that and we call them latrine rumours". Charlie Statham laughed and said, "Mr M. I don't know whether you've met the Honourable F.M.B. Fisher, Minister for Marine". Mr. Fisher, the man with the muffler then went on to tell me that the Prime Minister, Mr. Massey had gone to Government House to object to the troops sailing with such an inadequate escort, the Philomel, the Psyche and the Torch. Lord Liverpool had maintained, that as Governor General, he was Commander in Chief of the forces and that the troops would sail. Massey had then thrown down the gauge, the gauntlet: "Then of course, you have my resignation, which carries that of the whole cabinet". Wiser counsels had then prevailed and as a result of the interchange of messages, a cable had late that afternoon been received from the admiralty, advising that the Japanese battleship Ibuki and the British battlecruiser Minotaur would arrive in New Zealand to undertake the escort of the convoy. I returned to Maunganui and lost no time in disseminating the news. Not strangely I was immediately dubbed a latrine telegraphist, nevertheless we marched off next morning to return to Alexander Barracks. A mounted regiment went into camp at the Miramar polo grounds, other units went to camp in the Hutt Valley and the Otago Regiment remained on the troop ship at Clyde Quay.
During the first week in October, from the roof of Alexander Barracks, I saw below me, coming round Point Halswell, a gay snout bearing the rising sun of Japan and this was followed by a glorious sight - the white ensign displayed by Minotaur. A vindication of Bill Massey who'd resign before he'd agree to the main corp sailing with an inadequate escort. Quite apart from the German reisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau prowling around our part of the world, it is well known that after we had joined the Australians at Albany, West Australia, our escort had been augmented by Melbourne and Sydney, the German warship Emden passed through our lines in the middle of the night. No one saw Emden, and fortunately because we were travelling without lights, she did not see the glorious sight of some forty troop ships. And I want to say all armour to Bill Massey and the stand he took".
Transcript by Sound Archives/Ngā Taonga Kōrero